1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for recording a TV broadcasting signal (referred to as a TV signal) composed of a video signal and an audio signal, a method and an apparatus for reproducing a TV signal recorded on a recording medium, an apparatus for recording and reproducing a TV signal, and a recording medium for recording a broadcasting program and commercial message composed of a video signal and an audio signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the TV broadcasting, in general, the program contains commercial messages inserted therein. Conventionally, there has been known a method for using a sound multiplex mode for detecting the inserted commercial messages. Concretely, an apparatus for recording and reproducing a TV signal has been known which takes the steps of adding a skip start signal and a skip end signal to a start point and an end point of an interval detected as a commercial message and skipping the commercial message interval when reproducing the TV broadcasting signal.
For example, consider the case that the main program is broadcast in dual languages. If the main program contains a commercial message inserted therein, since the commercial message is normally broadcast in a stereophonic manner, the sound multiplex mode is switched from a dual language mode into a stereo mode. Hence, if the main program is broadcast not in a stereophonic manner but in a monophonic manner or in a dual language mode, the interval when the sound multiplex mode is switched into a stereophonic mode is determined as a commercial message interval.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional apparatus 40 for recording and reproducing a TV signal. This recording and reproducing apparatus 40 provides a function of cutting a commercial message which function is executed to detect a stereophonic interval as a commercial message interval and skip the commercial message interval when reproducing the TV signal. This apparatus 40 is a video tape recorder (VTR) provided with a magnetic tape as a recording medium.
A RF signal is inputted at an antenna 41 and then is supplied to a tuner 42. Then, this tuner 42 operates to extract a pilot signal of the sound multiplex mode. The pilot signal is supplied to the sound multiplex decoder 43. The sound multiplex decoder 43 operates to decode and determine the sound multiplex mode and send the result to a timer microcomputer 44.
The timer microcomputer 44 takes an AND of the result of the inputted sound multiplex mode and an output of a commercial message (simply referred to as CM) cut switch 45 manually controlled by a user to switch on and off the CM cutting function and then sends the AND to a main microcomputer 47. That is, in a case that the main program is determined in advance to be broadcast in dual language mode or a monophonic manner, if the CM cutting switch 45 is operated by the user, the timer microcomputer 44 enables to notify the main microcomputer 47 of the fact that the CM is detected when the sound multiplex decoder 43 outputs a stereophonic signal. A light-emitting diode 46 connected to the timer microcomputer 44 is lit up when the CM is detected so that the user can get to know the CM determined result.
The main microcomputer 47 operates to control a recording system control circuit 48 based on the CM determined result and then actuate the circuit 48 to record a video signal, an audio signal and a CM skip signal on a recording medium 49. The CM skip signal is composed of a skip start signal indicating a start point of a CM interval and a skip end signal indicating an end point of the CM interval.
On the other hand, in a reproducing system, a reproducing system control circuit 50 controlled by the main microcomputer 47 operates to read out a video signal, an audio signal and a CM skip signal from the recording medium 49 and then input them to the main microcomputer 47. If the CM skip signal is the skip start signal, the main microcomputer 47 disables to output the video signal and the audio signal to a signal processing circuit 51 until the skip end signal comes to the main microcomputer 47. It means that the video signal and the audio signal are allowed to be inputted to the signal processing circuit 51 only except the CM interval and then are fed out of the signal output circuit 52.
By the way, the apparatus for recording and reproducing a TV signal is arranged to record a skip start signal and a skip end signal on a start point and an end point of the interval detected as a CM and decode the skip start signal and the skip end signal when reproducing the TV signal so that all CMs contained in the main program are allowed to be deleted. Hence, this apparatus disables to correspond to the case that a TV watcher would like to watch a necessary number of CMs, for example, one CM or a given genre of CMs.
The present invention is made in consideration of the aforementioned conditions, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for recording a TV signal which method and apparatus are arranged to allow a reproducing apparatus side to efficiently reproduce the TV signal without having to display the same CM on the reproducing apparatus twice or more times.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for reproducing a TV signal which method and apparatus are arranged to efficiently reproduce the TV signal without having to show the same CM to a user twice or more times and to realize the reproduction of a program with one or more proper CMs being cut, with the same CM being cut, or with only the special genre of CM specified by the user being reproduced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording medium which allows the TV signal recorded thereon to be efficiently reproduced on the reproducing apparatus without having to show the same CM to the user twice or more times.
In carrying out the foregoing objects in a preferred mode, the apparatus for recording a TV signal according to the present invention is arranged to have means for detecting a CM for detecting if the received content is a CM, means for detecting CM information accompanied with the CM, and means for recording a signal for recording the CM information on a recording medium together with a video signal and an audio signal.
The method for recording a TV signal according to the present invention is arranged to detect if the received content of the TV signal is a CM and record CM information accompanied with the detected CM on a recording medium together with the video signal and the audio signal.
The apparatus for reproducing a TV signal according to the present invention is arranged to have means for separating a signal for separately extracting CM information recorded on a recording medium and means for controlling reproduction for controlling a reproducing state of the video signal and the audio signal according to the content of the CM information.
The method for reproducing a TV signal according to the present invention is arranged to separate the CM information accompanied with the CM recorded on a recording medium and control the reproducing information of the video signal and the audio signal according to the content of the CM information.
The apparatus for recording and reproducing a TV signal according to the present invention is arranged to have means for detecting a CM for detecting if the received content is a CM, means for detecting CM information for detecting the CM information accompanied with the CM, means for recording a signal for recording the CM information on a recording medium together with the video signal and the audio signal, means for separating a signal for separately extracting the CM information recorded on the recording medium, and means for controlling reproduction for controlling the reproducing state of the video signal and the audio signal according to the content of the CM information.
The recording medium according to the present invention is arranged to record the CM information accompanied with a CM together with the video signal and the audio signal.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.